Wallet Kickers of the Week

GenCon is only one short week away, so lets see if some of these Kickstarter campaigns can take your money before you leave.

First up is the fourth campaign for the Reaper Miniatures line called Bones 4. Reaper is known for long waits from campaign to fulfillment, exemplified by the Feb 2019 delivery date, but also for high quality minis at an amazing price. This time around your $100 will get you 85 different minis in a fantasy setting, with figures of things like dragons, goblins, wizards, knights, kobolds, and more. Plus as more stretch goals get unlocked, more minis are added to the base pledge, sending it’s value skyward. So if you can wait a couple years for your minis, check out the Kickstarter campaign.

Next is a dexterity card game where you are literally throwing weapons at your opponents, called Rise of the Exiled. In Rise of the Exiled you are playing as a character from four different guild, vying for control of the city they live in. To play the game you will select your character and place them on the table. Each round you will move your character one card length, and then throw your weapon, depicted on a clear plastic card, at your opponent. Where you are located is important because your hand can’t go past your character on the table when throwing, and where you hit your opponent determines how much life they lose. You also have the option to use your character’s special ability to tip the scales in your favor, and if you are the last one standing you win. With simple play like that and varying powers between the characters, this could be a fun, light, dexterity game. Check out the Kickstarter page for more information.

After that is a deduction style game called Visitor in Blackwood Grove. In this game one player will be playing the crash landed alien, and the rest either the local kid who found him, or the agents trying to capture him. For this game the alien will make a “pass” rule for items that will pass through his force-field, and then in order the agents, kid, and alien will begin selecting cards and finding out if they pass through or not. As more information is collected eventually someone will figure out the rule, at that point they prove it by drawing four cards and classifying them based on if they pass or not. If they are right then that team wins, if they are wrong then play continues until someone does get it right. There are more rules for the agents and kid but that is the basics of the game, keeping it a light deduction game. Plus with nice looking art and good components, this project is worth it for you to look at. Check out their Kickstarter page today.

Following that is a magazine being put out by Steve Jackson Games that is all about Ogre, called Ogrezine. The Ogrezine is going to be a collection of articles about different ways you can change and modify how you play Ogre. One example they have released is the article Dambusters, which details how to use and include a dam as well as flooding into a Ogre game. This is all to celebrate 40 years of the game, and so in addition to the magazine you can back for other stuff for Ogre included the base game itself. So if you are interested in more content for you Ogre game, check out their Kickstarter page.

Next is a fantasy fire fighting game from Red Genie Games called The Brigade. In this competitive fire fighting game you are leading a fire brigade to help put out fires in the town of Tinderbox. The cause of these fires is the pyromancer school in the center of town, and they are continually raining fireballs down upon the surrounding buildings. It will be up to you to move your water carriage and fire brigade around town, putting out fires and spreading tales of your deeds to the surrounding population. You will also have the option to upgrade your fire house, get more crew, and acquire special abilities to help you better fight fires. The game will end in one of two ways, someone gets enough loyalty to the town or quarter, or the town is evacuated because of the fire, and at that point the person with the most loyalty wins. With good art and gameplay that gives you good choices while not drawing the game, I think this one is worth a look. Head to the Kickstarter page to check it out.

Another interesting game is coming from Green Couch Games called Before the Earth Explodes. The Earth is in bad shape in this game, and it’s up to you to either find the resources to fix it, or find a new place to call home. In this 2 player card game you will simultaneously select actions, with each action having different abilities and benefits. Some of these let you draw cards, gets ships, get more resources, or damage your opponent directly. And there are multiple ways you can win from eliminating your opponent, advancing all the way on the tech tree, colonizing seven planets, or satisfying the requirements for a ship card. Any way you go you will have to try and out think your opponent, because each action card has another card that blocks it, so if you are too obvious in what you are doing next, your opponent can thwart you. Plus if you take damage, you are out for the round, allowing you opponent to move forward on checked. So if you enjoy these types of games, check out the Kickstarter page for more information.

And last, but not least, we have the expansion to the quirky themed game Feudum called The Queen’s Army. What the Queen’s Army does is simply add a new AI player to the game working against the players. With this new addition you can now play the game cooperatively against the Queen, while still have a single points winner, or if you are playing solo you now have someone to play against. There are also options in this campaign to get the base game and other expansion in case you missed the original Kickstarter. So if you are looking to get into Feudum, or just want to expand your copy even more, head over to the Kickstarter page.

I'm an engineer manager by day, board game entusiast by night. I will play most anything once but I love adventure style games and cooperative games, which might explain my unnatural love for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game series of games.
I can be contacted on BoardGameGeek.com under the user ID "burke4865"